^* Jahiliyya: “The Era of Ignorance.” A reference to the period in Arabia before the rise of Islam.

 

^* Fallah: Peasant, or agricultural laborer. Also fellah.

 

^* The Guide to Good Deeds, or Dala’il al-Khayrat: A collection of sayings and prayers meant for daily recitation; collected by Sufi scholar Muhammad al-Jazuli of Morocco.

 

^* Galabiya or jalabiya: Traditional full-length garment worn by Arab men and women.

 

^* ‘Amma and Tabarak: Sections of the Qur’an often memorized by children.

 

^* Mawwals: Traditional Arab songs.

 

^* Ma’mur: An assistant; someone who takes orders or who is a subordinate.

 

^* Piastre: A unit of currency in the Ottoman Empire.

 

^* Ultra vires: Latin term meaning “beyond the scope” or “in excess of legal power or authority.”

 

^* Toumbeel: An automobile.

 

^* ‘Arrar: Pen name for Mustafa Wahbi al-Tal.

 

^* Wadi as-Sir: A small village in Jordan south of Amman.

 

^* The poem is addressed to Prince Saud Ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, who visited the poet’s town, ‘Anabta, on August 14, 1935.

 

^† Aqsa mosque: The silver-topped mosque that stands near the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) in Jerusalem.

 

^* Peri: A fairy or supernatural being; derived from Persian mythology.

 

^* War of Deliverance: A reference to the Greek-Turkish war of 1919–22.

 

^* Charshaf: A black garment that covers a woman from head to toe.

 

^* Mejid: An Ottoman coin.

 

^* While Russian exodus: A reference to the mass migration of non-Communist (dubbed “White” as opposed to the Communist “Red”) Russians after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

 

^* Amme Cuzu: A section of the Qur’an from chapter 78 to the end, used as an Arabic reading book in schools.

 

^* Bedreddin: A preacher and theologian who launched a rebellion against Ottoman rule in the early 1400s. Sinan: Chief architect under Ottoman Sultans Süleyman I, Selim II, and Murad III. Yunus Emre: Thirteenth-century poet and Sufi dervish.

 

^† Sakarya: Turkish province in the Marmara region.

 

^* Edirn, etc.: Cities and provinces in Turkey.

 

^* Sultan Memet (Mehmet II): Ottoman sultan from 1444 to 1446 and 1451 to 1481.

 

^† Sultan Osman: Founder of the Ottoman Empire (1258–1326).

 

^* Iznik Lake: Lake in northwestern Turkey near which Sheikh Bedreddin was exiled and from which he launched his insurrection.

 

^* The Foundations: Treatise written by Bedreddin while in exile at Iznik.

 

^† Kemal: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic in 1923.

 

^* Yiit: A hero or brave warrior.

 

^* Hoca: A teacher or master.

 

^* Hejaz: The region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

 

^* Nargile: A waterpipe.

 

^† Kaymakam: A district chief in a province.

 

^* Zemzem (or Zamzam): A spring in Mecca located near the Ka’aba.

 

^* Gilaki: Language spoken by the people in Iran’s Gilan Province along the Caspian Sea. Enzeli: A person from the city of Bandar-e Anzali in Gilan Province (northwest Iran).

 

^† Azrael: The Angel of Death in Islamic mythology.

 

^* Interrogating Angels: Known as Munkar and Nakir, they question the dead in order to allow entry into Paradise.

 

^† Lion-and-sun: The imperial symbol of the shahs of Iran.

 

^* The shah and the Assembly: Jamalzadeh refers to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905, in which Mozzafar-al-Din Shah was forced to allow the drafting of a constitution and the creation of a parliament.

 

^† Wog: Western-oriented gentleman. A disparaging term for non-Westerners who spent a great deal of time in Europe and North America and returned to their native lands totally “Westernized.”

 

^* Spero: “I hope”; ex tempore: “forthwith”; interea: “meanwhile.”

 

^† Bismillah: Muslim invocation: “In the name of God.”

 

^‡ Quasi nullus essem: “as though I did not exist.”

 

^* “Throne Verse”: Verse 256 of the second sura (chapter) of the Qur’an.

 

^† “Amr” and “Zayd”: The principal characters in the model sentences of traditional Arabic grammar as learned by children.

 

^* Lamartine: French poet and politician Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (1790–1869).

 

^* Shemr: The Umayyad general who killed the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hosayn, at the battle of Karbala in the year 680.

 

^† Nakisa: Pre-Islamic court minstrel.

 

^* Salmas, Khoi: Turkish-speaking regions of Iran.

 

^* Droshky: A vehicle drawn by horses.

 

^* Nouruz: Literally, “new day”; the Persian New Year, celebrated on the first day of spring.

 

^* Abdo’l-Azim: A mosque and cemetery situated among the ruins of Rey, a few miles south of Tehran.

 

^* Krans; abbasi: Silver coins formerly used in Iran.

 

^* Badakhshan: Formerly a region comprising northeastern Afghanistan and southeastern Tajikistan.

 

^* Chador: A black, tentlike garment worn by particularly pious women in Iran.

 

^* Loghman: Also known as Luqman the Wise; a legendary prophet and philosopher mentioned in the Qur’an.

 

^* Uplas: Dried “cakes” of cow dung.

 

^* Lassi: Spiced yoghurt drink.

 

^* Ghundas: Street thugs.

 

^* Purdah: Literally, “curtain.” The practice of seclusion for women.

 

^† Congress Movement: The Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, led the movement for independence from British rule and became India’s dominant political party after Partition.

 

^‡ Adarsh: One who is ideal; in this case, ideally feminine.

 

^* Darshan: A vision of the Divine; an ecstatic experience.

 

^† Bhajans: Hindu devotional songs.

 

^* Tonga: A horse carriage.

 

^† Pandatani: A Hindu woman who chants the Vedas; hence Manto’s reference to her as the “Pandit girl.”

 

^* Chapatis: Indian flatbread.

 

^† Loban: A fragrant resin made from pine trees: often burned as incense in Hindu temples.

 

^* Ashrams, vidyalas, etc.: Places of spiritual gatherings in South Asian Hindu and Muslim traditions.

 

^* Rat ki rani: “Queen of the night” in Urdu; a woody shrub also known as night-blooming jasmine.

 

^† General Dyer: Reginald Edward Harry Dyer (1864–1927), British brigadier-general responsible for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.

 

^* Maulvi Sahib: A revered teacher or scholar of Islamic law.

 

^* Hadis: Hadith; A saying of the Prophet Muhammad.

 

^* Hakims: Lawyers, experts in Islamic law often used to settle disputes.

 

^† Jaali karga kurtas: A long white blouse worn by men and women in South Asia.

 

^* Amma: Mother.

 

^† Ayat-ul-Kursi: The “Throne Verse,” verse 256 of the second sura (chapter) of the Qur’an.

 

^* Lakh: One hundred thousand.

 

^* Houri: An angelic female spirit residing in Paradise.

 

^* Raj: British colonial rule in India.

 

^* Miraji: Pen name for Mohammad Sana’ullah Dar.

 

^† Devadasi and Pujari: The Temple Dancer and the Priest.

 

^* Buqara and Samarqand: Legendary cities in Central Asia that were ruled by the Iranian Samanid dynasty in the late ninth and the tenth centuries.

 

^* Alwand and Himaliya: Two mountain ranges in Asia (also spelled Alvand and Himalaya)

 

^* UNRWA: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

 

^* Safad: A small town in northern Israel.

 

^* Mountain of Fire: Nickname for the Palestinian city of Nablus.

 

^* Mount Carmel: Coastal mountain range in northern Israel.

 

^* Keffiyeh: Traditional headdress worn by Arab men.

 

^* Adonis: Pen name for Ali Ahmad Sa’id Asbar.

 

^* “I speak the password primeval”: From Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself.”

 

^* “with no ancestors…”: A quotation from Adonis’s poem “Knight of Strange Words: Psalm.”

 

^* Dayan: Moshe Dayan, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1953 to 1958, later defense minister and then foreign minister of Israel.

 

^* al-Sham: Syria.

 

^† Tal al-Zaatar: Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon besieged by Christian Phalangist forces under the command of Michel Aoun during the Lebanese Civil War.

 

^‡ Capital of the poor: The poet is referring to Beirut.

 

^* Applause: al-Nawwab is a performance poet, and this poem is transcribed from an undated performance in front of an audience.

 

^† Naft ibn Kaaba: Literally, “Oil, son of the Kaaba.” Not a real person but al-Nawwab’s mocking name for any leader of an oil-rich Arab (specifically, Gulf Arab) state.

 

^* Great Dam of Ma’rab: Legendary dam in ancient Yemen that, according to legend, collapsed after rats slowly nibbled away at it for years on end.

 

^† Fedayee: An Arab guerrilla fighter.

 

^* Qaboos: Qaboos ibn Sa’id, sultan of Oman.

 

^† Lion of the Iranian flag: The imperial insignia of Iran; a reference to Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi.

 

^* Church of Mar Sharbal: Maronite Christian church in Beirut.

 

^† The one who is seeking his state: A mocking reference to Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat.

 

^* Mammoth of Neid: A reference to King Khalid ibn Abd al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia (1975–1982). His disciple probably refers to the rest of the Gulf monarchs. The pimp of Syria: President Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000). Judge of Baghdad: May refer to General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, president of Iraq (1968–1979). King of Syphilis: King Hussein of Jordan (1952–1999). The blotted rat: Jaafar Numeiri, president of Sudan (1969–1985). Dubai: Perhaps a reference to Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the time the emir of Dubai. The one in Tunis: Habib Bourguiba, president of Tunisia (1957–1987).

 

^† Ras al-Khayma: One of the smallest countries in the United Arab Emirates, ruled by Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammad al-Qassimi (b. 1918), one of the world’s oldest reigning monarchs.

 

^* Howdah: A seat placed atop a camel (or elephant).

 

^* Article Three: The treaty could be SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty), signed by the United States and the USSR. Article III states that “each Party undertakes to limit ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, heavy bombers, and ASBMs to an aggregate number not to exceed 2,400.”

 

^* Damur: A Christian town attacked by PLO forces in 1976 during the Lebanese Civil War.

 

^* Church of Rome: The Vatican.

 

^* Sons of Chamoun: The followers of the Christian Maronite politician Camille Chamoun (1900–1987).

 

^* Aden: A city in southern Yemen.

 

^* Rakhyut and Hawfa: Towns in Oman and Jordan, respectively.

 

^† King of Farts: The Arabic word ghaz also means gas or oil, a deliberate pun by al-Nawwab, who refers to all oil monarchs as kings of farts!

 

^* Kharit: A mythical monster.

 

^* Antakia…and all the rest: Various cities and towns in the Middle East.

 

^* Antar: Legendary pre-Islamic Arab poet famed for his chivalry.

 

^* Hatim al-Ta’i: Pre-Islamic Arab poet known for his generosity.

 

^† The war: Tamir is likely referring to the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, at the end of which Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.

 

^* Sulayman al-Qasim: Not a real person.

 

^* Khalid ibn al-Walid: Islam’s most famous military commander during the early expansion of the Islamic Empire. He died in 642 CE, hence the anachronistic joke of his promoting Andrews Liver Salts, a British product.

 

^* Oras Mountains: Mountain range in Northeastern Algeria that served as the center of the twentieth-century Algerian revolt against the French.

 

^† The city: Algiers.

 

^* Si Alazrak: In Algeria, Morocco, and other parts of North Africa, Si means “Mister.”

 

^* Hara: Arabic for “neighborhood.”

 

^* Khalid ibn al-Walid: One of Islamic history’s greatest warriors.

 

^* Lord Balfour: Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930), British prime minister and author of the Balfour Declaration (1917), which supported the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

 

^† Urabi’s Revolution: Colonel Ahmad Urabi (1841–1911), Egyptian army officer who led an ill-fated revolt against European colonial control of Egypt in 1879.

 

^* Rayya: Young Alexandrian woman who, along with her sister Sakina, murdered and mutilated a number of women in the 1920s.

 

^† Akhenaten: Egyptian pharaoh during the Eighteenth Dynasty (husband of Nefertiti and father of Tutankhamun) who brutally suppressed devotion to Egypt’s gods in favor of the figure he deemed “the One God,” Aten.

 

^‡ Pharaoh-in-the-time-of-Moses: Traditionally thought to be Ramses II. al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah: Fatimid caliph from 996 to 1021 CE. Abbas I: Shah Abbas the Great, ruler of the Persian Safavid Empire from 1587 to 1629 CE.

 

^§ Camille Chamoun: Head of the Maronite Christian bloc during the Lebanese Civil War.

 

^* Tawfiq al-Hakim: One of Egypt’s greatest writers—known as the father of Arab drama—whose Diary of a Country Prosecutor appears in Part One of this volume.

 

^† Mustafa Mahmud: Mustafa Kamal Mahmud Husayn (1921–2009), Egyptian author and journalist.

 

^* al-Sayyid Umar Makram: Egyptian nationalist who led the revolt against Napoleon’s army.

 

^† Anis Mansur: Egyptian author and travel writer (b. 1925).

 

^‡ Lewis Awad: Coptic (Christian) Egyptian intellectual (1950–1980). Mustafa Kamil: Egyptian lawyer and journalist (1874–1908) who fought for independence from British colonial rule. Fathi Radwan (1911–1988): Young Egyptian nationalist and critic of “the West.”

 

^§ Muhammad Farid (1868–1919): Egyptian politician, lawyer, writer, and staunch supporter of Mustafa Kamil. Osman Ahmed Osman (1917–1999): Egyptian politician; the engineer who led the construction of the Aswan Dam. Sa’ad Zaghlul (1859–1927): Egypt’s greatest and best-known nationalist; considered the father of Arab nationalism.

 

^* Mustafa al-Nahhas (1879–1965): Prime minister of Egypt several times between 1928 and 1952. Anwar al-Sadat (1918–1981): Succeeded Gamal Abd al-Nasser as president of Egypt until his assassination on October 6, 1981.

 

^† Gamal Abd al-Nasser (1918–1970): Leader of the Free Officers coup that toppled Egypt’s King Farouk. Second president of the Egypt, from 1954 to 1970. Considered the father of pan-Arab nationalism. al-Qaddafi: Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi (b. 1942), leader of Libya.

 

^* Muhammad Ali: Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769–1849), ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1848.

 

^* Piquet: A card game for two players.

 

^* Dolmu: Shared taxi.

 

^* Simit: A ring-shaped breakfast bread sold on the streets of Turkey.

 

^* Hanm: Turkish for Ms. or Mrs.

 

^* Zeyrek: The Molla Zeyrek Camii, the second largest mosque in Istanbul.

 

^† Vefa: The Vefa Kilise Mosque, also in Istanbul.

 

^* Golden Horn: An inlet of the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul.

 

^* Battle of Kadesh: Battle between the Egyptian and Hittite Empires in the thirteenth century BCE.

 

^† Mutawallis: Commander of Hittite forces.

 

^* Agamemnon: Commander of the Achaean forces in the Trojan War.

 

^* Lokum: Turkish delight, a chewy candy.

 

^† Diomedes: Famed Achaean warrior in the Trojan War.

 

^‡ Chacun à son goût: French, “each to his own taste.”

 

^* Helenos and Sarpedon: Trojan warriors.

 

^† Priam and Hector: The king and prince, respectively, of Troy.

 

^* Kilim: A traditional Turkish flatweave rug.

 

^* Iambus: A metrical foot consisting of a short syllable followed by a long one.

 

^† Bayram: Muslim holiday.

 

^* The Great Nobodaddy: A reference to an absent God from William Blake’s poem “To Nobodaddy.”

 

^* Mount Ida: “The Mountain of the Goddess” in Greek mythology. There are two Mount Idas, one on Crete and one in Turkey.

 

^* Phrygian: Language of the Indo-European peoples of Phrygia who lived in Anatolia (now Turkey) and were once allies of Troy.

 

^* Köfte: Grilled meat patties—usually lamb—popular as street food in Turkey.

 

^* Korsi: A low table with a heater underneath and blankets on top, around which families in Iran often gather.

 

^* Qom: A city in southwestern Iran that serves as the theological center of Shi’a Islam.

 

^* Barrikallah, chapani: “Well done, shepherd!”

 

^* Abadan: A city in southwestern Iran.

 

^* Gharbzadegi: A word invented by Jalal Al-e Ahmad to mean “Westoxification” or “Weststruckness.”

 

^* Annual per capita income: The essay was written in 1962.

 

^† Tibor Mende, Reflexions sur l’histoire d’aujourd’hui, entre la peur et l’espoir (Paris, 1958).

 

^* Sixth of Bahman: Reference to a series of land and social reforms (known as the “White Revolution”) made by Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, and passed by national referendum on January 26, 1963.

 

^† UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. FAO: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. ECAFE: United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East.

 

^* Ad and Thamud: Two ancient tribes thought to be among the first to inhabit the Arabian Peninsula. According to the Qur’an, both tribes were utterly destroyed by God for disobeying the prophets.

 

^* Andalusia: A reference to the defeat of Andalusian caliph Abd al-Rahman by the Frankish military commander Charles Martel.

 

^* Shahnameh: The national epic of Iran, written by the poet Ferdowsi around 1000 CE.

 

^† Zell-ol Sultan: Villainous Qajar prince who was governor of Isfahan from 1874 to 1907.

 

^* Kashk-e Bademjan: A Persian stew made with eggplant.

 

^* Seemorgh: Mythical bird in Persian literature.

 

^* Yush: A village in the Alborz Mountains where the great Iranian poet Nima Yushij was born.

 

^* Azudi: Along with Hosseinzadeh, one of Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi’s chief torturers in the infamous Evin Prison, where the shah’s political prisoners were kept.

 

^† Nazan: Persian for “Don’t strike me!” Because “zan” is the word for woman, “nazan” could also be understood to mean “no woman” or “not a woman.”

 

^* Kalima: The Muslim profession of faith: There is no god but God and Muhammad is His Messenger. Also known as Shahada in Arabic.

 

^* August 14, 1947: The day on which the independence of Pakistan was officially announced.

 

^* Farhad and Qais: The stories of Qais (also known as Majnoon) and Leila, and Farhad (also Kohkun) and Shireen are two of the most famous love stories in Persian and Urdu poetry, symbolizing perfect, spiritual love.

 

^* Tonga: A horse carriage.

 

^* Du’a: A more informal prayer than the traditional salat done five times a day by Muslims.

 

^* Memsahib: An Indian form of respectful address for a European woman.

 

^† Malmal kurtas: Loose-fitting shirts that fall just above the knees; worn by both men and women in South Asia.

 

^* Paan: Betel leaf chewed in South Asia.

 

^* Fakir: A mendicant, or beggar.

 

^* Dupatta: A long scarf.

 

^* Maulvi sahib: An Islamic scholar.

 

^* Wadi al-Badhaan: A Palestinian village near Nablus.

 

^* Tekkes: Gathering places for Sufis.

 

^* Fenerbahçe: Soccer (football) team in Istanbul that is a favorite of working-class Turks.

 

^* gazels: Turkish word for ghazal.

 

^* Allah Rakkah/Bundoo Khan: Famous sarangi (a short-necked Indian lute) musicians.

 

^* Kajal: Kohl; used as eye makeup.

 

^† Tika: A red spot on the forehead of a Hindu woman.

 

^* Raksha-bandhan: A Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brother and sister.

 

^† Rakhi: A holy thread tied to the wrist to indicate the love bond between brother and sister.

 

^* Wuzu: Ritual ablution. Ruku: Also raka’ah. The series of prescribed movements and words during the salat prayer. Sijdah: Prostrations during prayer.

 

^† Milads: Religious gatherings to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

 

^* Bindiyas: Plural for bindi. Throughout South Asia, any kind of jewelry or decoration worn on the center of the forehead.

 

^* Kashan: A city near Isfahan in Iran.

 

^* Allah-u Akbar: God is great! The slogan of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the shah.

 

^* Hidden Imam: Also known as the Mahdi, a messianic figure in Shi’a Islam

 

^* Golestaneh: Golestan, an Iranian province just south of the Caspian Sea.

 

^* Moharam: First month of the Islamic calendar, whose tenth day, Ashura, commemorates the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hosayn.

 

^* Lote: A large tree; also called a nettle tree.

 

^* Khorramshahr: A port city in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran.

 

^* Pir Sultan: Pir Sultan Abdal (1480–1550), famed Turkish Sufi poet and foe of the Ottoman Sultans.

 

^† Yunus Emre: Legendary Sufi poet and mystic (ca. 1240–1321).

 

^‡ Karacaolan: Seventeenth-century folk poet.

 

^* Turgut Reis (1485–1565): Ottoman naval commander; governor of Algiers and, later, Tripoli.

 

^* Zalabia: A type of pastry fried in oil. Madrat al-bur‘i: Soup made with dried peas. Busbas: Spicy red peppers.

 

^* Ruwani: A cake drenched in syrup.

 

^* Bab al-Yaman: “Gate of Yemen”; southern gate of the old city of Sanaa, Yemen.

 

^† Suq al-Milh: The salt market.

 

^* Bab Shu‘ub: The northern gate of the old city of Sanaa.

 

^† Bab al-Qa‘: Yet another gate in the old city of Sanaa, this one leading to the Jewish Quarter.

 

^* Jamilah: Jamilah Buhrayd, a young Algerian girl who was imprisoned and tortured by the French during the Algerian Revolution.

 

^* Naaman: A biblical figure mentioned in 2 Kings.

 

^* Imru al-Qays: Pre-Islamic (sixth century) Arab poet.

 

^* Cheghazanbil (also known as Chogha Zanbil): Ancient Elamite ziggurat in Khuzestan (southwestern Iran) that was destroyed by Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in 640 BCE.

 

^† Athennes: Athens.

 

^‡ Perspolise (also Persepolis): Ancient capital of the Persian Empire in southwestern Iran near the city of Shiraz.